NATCHEZ &045; Improvements to the Natchez-Adams Port’s access roads should be complete by June, Port Director Pat Murphy said Tuesday.

&uot;It’s going to improve access to our pumping station, our liquid loading facility and our bulk loading facility&uot; making the port’s services more marketable to prospective customers, Murphy said.

The road, formerly a gravel thoroughfare, runs from River Terminal Road along the levee to the port itself.

What Murphy calls the &uot;intermodal connector&uot; project will include widening the levee to 36 feet &045; 24 feet of asphalt road with six-foot shoulders on either side of the road.

&uot;With utilized the levee for many years,&uot; but a gravel road &045; even reinforced with limestone, as the port road is &045; is now inadequate for the port’s needs, Murphy said.

And the same time, improving road access to the port will help make industrial property near the facility more marketable to industrial prospects, he said.

Earlier this year, Adams County supervisors accepted a bid of $430,806 from Camo Construction of Vidalia to widen and pave the road from River Terminal Road to the Coast Guard station.

A $415,460 bid was accepted from Pace Brothers Enterprises of Columbia to improve the remainder of the road.

The Mississippi Department of Transportation is paying for 80 percent of the cost of the improvements.